


See No Evil

by tptigger



Category: Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Case Fic, Gen, Post-Canon, investigative reporting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 02:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21809584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tptigger/pseuds/tptigger
Summary: Maria has found something weird at the museum while on one of her Internship assignments; good thing Sarah Jane just got to town!
Relationships: Maria Jackson & Sarah Jane Smith
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	See No Evil

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SegaBarrett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SegaBarrett/gifts).



> Many thanks to [redacted] for the beta!

Sarah Jane was glad to be visiting Maria in Washington DC. She was nearly twenty now, and in some ways all grown up. Except, it seemed, while they were driving to the National Museum of Science and Industry, where Maria was bouncing in the car like a little kid. She leapt out, grabbed Sarah Jane by the hand, and rushed towards the museum.

“You know I've been here before, right?” Sarah Jane asked as Maria dragged her up the steps to the museum.

“We're going to the temporary exhibit hall." Maria expertly pulled Sarah Jane between the white columns. "Trust me, you'll want to see this!"

"I do trust you, Maria," Sarah Jane panted. "That doesn't make me any less confused. Or any less eager to know what’s going on."

Maria smiled. "I don't want to prejudice your opinion with my hypothesis."

"You're paying attention in Journalism School I see." Sarah Jane returned the grin.

"And in my internship at the Post. Thanks for pulling that string."

Sarah Jane grinned widely and opened the glass door, holding it open for Maria. "I was happy to do it. I like to think I had a little bit of a hand in you deciding to go to Journalism School."

Maria smiled shyly. "Maybe a little bit."

They entered the lobby, which felt modern, all steel and giant windows. There were a couple of airplanes suspended from the ceiling and various information desks around the walls. In the center was an early printing press with a mannequin wearing an apron and green visor posed to use it. They stopped at the ticket desk and bought tickets to the exhibition, _Emerging Technology in Start Ups_.

Sarah Jane opened the slick, purple brochure, skimming through summaries of the technology--each carefully disclosing a corporate logo and summary. "Is this an exhibition or an advertisement?"

"A little bit of both I think," Maria reached for her hand again, heading for a flight of marble stairs in the far corner with a purple sign pointing to _Emerging Technology_. "Gotta love late stage capitalism."

Sarah Jane frowned. "Careful, communism isn't that great either."

Maria started taking the steps two at a time. "A little bit of both would go a long way, but in this case it's lucky for us."

Maria handed their tickets the docent, then led Sarah Jane past a room of gadgets of dubious function that wouldn't be out of place on an infomercial or _Shark Tank_ to a room labeled "Better Health Through Technology."

"How many if these are fitness trackers?" Sarah Jane asked, as they entered. The case on the right, at least, held a flashing device on a fluorescent wrist strap.

"Only two," Maria said, "but the curators told me that they had a dozen submitted."

"You spoke to the curators?" Sarah Jane asked, raising her eyebrows.

Maria blushed as she led Sarah Jane to the left, down another row of various gadgets. "I might have gotten to write about this exhibition in the Life and Style section as part of my internship. I shared a byline, but I did all of the legwork and knocked my mentor's socks off."

"That's my girl." Sarah Jane wrapped an arm around Maria's shoulders giving her a one-armed hug. "I take it you found more here than just a puff piece?"

"Maybe," Maria said as she led Sarah Jane around another case with some kind of black box in it to the other case in the the center of the room, where a mannequin head sat on a plinth, a blinking circle mounted on its forehead.

"Someone's been watching a lot of Star Trek," Sarah Jane observed.

"I thought it looked familiar, but it's the markings that interested me." She pointed to the markings on the headband holding the thing on.

Why were they familiar?

Sarah Jane snapped her fingers. "I've seen those before. "I think it's from the Shadow Proclamation."

"I thought so too," Maria said. "Here's the weird part." She pulled the brochure out of her pocket.

Sarah Jane blinked. "The alien language isn't the weird part?"

"No,” Maria said. "Notice what's not on the display?"

Sarah Jane skimmed through the various claims--that the device read nerve impulses and sent out gentle electrical impulses to relax muscles and prevent tension headaches and migraines. There was a note that it was still being tested and would likely not be ready to go on sale for two years.

"No product name, no company name," Sarah Jane said. "Was it omitted accidentally? Is it in the brochure."

"It's not," Maria confirmed. "That's the weird part: it was omitted intentionally. The curators were asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement after the device was accepted into the exhibition."

"That makes no sense," Sarah Jane said. "They have the usual disclaimer about the statements not being evaluated by the FDA. Why put this here if you don't want to generate early buzz?"

"Two theories: they're up to something and they think that not allowing the curators to tell anyone who they are will throw the Earth's defenders off the scent."

"Then why take the risk of displaying it at all?"

"That's my second theory: that's what they want us to think; it's actually a trap."

Sarah Jane frowned. "How long have you known about this?" 

"Since yesterday morning; if you weren't coming here I'd have called. You just don't go springing traps alone. Especially when you have a friend who has sonic lipstick and a super computer at her disposal. Wanna go on an adventure, Sarah Jane?" Maria smiled at her broadly, her eyes bright.

Sarah Jane smiled widely. "Your father is going to kill me."

"I'm twenty one now; I get to make my own decisions."

"I guess you do," Sarah Jane said. She took out her mobile. "Let's find somewhere with decent reception and give Mr. Smith a call."

* * *

They had just about had their fill of staring at various spacecraft--from the real (the Apollo 11 capsule) to the fictional (the screen-used model of the original USS Enterprise) when Mr. Smith called Sarah Jane back.

They retreated to a quiet corner of the museum so that Sarah Jane could put Mr. Smith on speaker.

"Well, what have you got?"

"This request was fairly straightforward, Sarah Jane; once I was able to access the museum's computer, I learned that the device you asked me to investigate was lent to the museum by Fairweather Biolabs, who have a premises at 1831 Forbes Boulevard, in Arlington, Virginia. The company is registered in Delaware and is a wholly owned LLC; the owner's name is Ariana Fairweather. No shell corporations, no attempts to obfuscate the company. Dr. Fairweather's name also appears on a patent application owned by her company."

"Feel like doing a little freelance interning, Maria?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Always," Maria replied, "let's go."

* * *

A quick consultation of a map revealed that the premises was convenient to a metro station, so they hopped the metro and found the address, a square, white cement building which had a bakery-cafe on one side and the American Association of Gas Station Attendants on the other. 

There was even a sign on the door "Fairweather Biolabs." The door was locked, but had a doorbell.

Maria looked at Sarah Jane, who shrugged and rang the doorbell.

A couple of minutes later a dark-skinned man with dreadlocks and wearing a Metallica t-shirt poked his head out. "We're not expecting visitors and we don't accept solicitations without an appointment."

"We're neither. I'm a journalist, Sarah Jane Smith, and this is my cub reporter, Maria Jackson. We saw your display at the Smithsonian."

The man blanched. "It's not ready! We didn't want anyone coming yet; that's why our name isn't on the display. The museum wasn't supposed to tell anyone!"

"They didn't: I found who you are by looking through patent databases and finding your PCT application."

The man sighed. "It sounds like you aren't going to go away until you talk to my boss. Come in and have a seat."

He opened the door and stepped back, allowing them access to a reception area that had generic beige walls, tan leather couches, and a couple of potted plants with, long, thick green fronds.

Maria sat, but Sarah Jane did not. "I prefer to remain standing. Been sitting all day."

He sighed. "Suit yourself." He walked out.

A minute later they could hear high heels clacking rapidly towards them. There was a pause, and then the inner door opened to reveal a woman wearing a lab coat over a grey pencil suit and black blouse. Her hair was pulled back into a severe bun, which was probably meant to cover up the fact that it was electric green. 

"Sarah Jane Smith? Of Bannerman Road?" the woman asked.

Maria's jaw dropped. 

"Yes."

"I'm Ariana Fairweather. We should talk in my office."

They followed her down a white corridor full of bulletin boards covered in OSHA posters, safety reminders, and a couple sign ups for Dungeons and Dragons games and Pokemon Go raiding parties.

It seemed more like a laid back company than an alien death trap.

Dr. Fairweather turned a corridor and led them into a room with a large, walnut desk that wrapped around, its hutch filled with biology text books, coding manuals, and a leatherbound complete works of Shakespeare.

"I suppose indulging my whimsy putting the Shadow Proclamation's version of the hippocratic oath as a decoration around the trim of our automatic cranial tension reducer is what brings you here?"

Sarah Jane laughed. "Is that what it says?"

"Yes." She pulled a white binder off of a shelf. "My technology is all Earth based, exactly as it reads in the patent. My main innovation was finding the right alloy of Earth metals to make the conductance perfectly adjustable enough to read the minuscule differences between tension states in the muscle. I'll confess to applying some alien knowledge only so far as knowing the goal, but that's it."

"You're not even going to deny being an alien?" Maria blurted out.

"My birthname is..." She emitted a series of high pitched squeaks and whistles similar to what a dolphin might use. "but that's not terribly easy on human vocal chords, so just call me Ariana. I was born on Almaglial Theta."

"Oh dear, the civil war," Sarah Jane said.

"Yes, exactly. I paid a Dentrassi trader my life savings to smuggle me out, and then he dumps me on a planet where I'm not supposed to be! I came to the US because New York Torchwood was overburdened and likely to ignore me. I knew I shouldn't have pushed my luck! What happens now?"

"Once you start mass production, you let me pick a sample of units from your warehouse for analysis," Sarah Jane said, "purely for safety reasons. I'll return them to you afterwards."

"We'll probably be able to use them for sales demos," Ariana mused.

Maria looked at her, confused. "If the only thing not on the up and up with your device is the alien language decorative trim, why all the secrecy?"

"I have a friend who did some trade shows of a pre- pre-prototype and needed to hire someone they couldn't afford to fend off all the people wanting to order it already. I don't have the resources for that. One of my mentors also thought the air of mystery would help generate buzz that would lead to great word of mouth once we're ready to launch. Apparently it also generated some consternation. Sorry about that."

"Excuse me," Maria said. She pulled out her phone. 

"What are you doing?"

Maria smiled. "Texting my life and style mentor at the Post that I've changed my mind and I am comfortable with the part about your mystery device. You know, now that I know it's harmless."

"Oh my gosh, thank you."

"I mean, she's right, it does lend an air of mystery to an otherwise straightforward piece." Maria grinned.

Ariana and Sarah Jane exchanged contact information and other pleasantries, and then Ariana walked them out of the building.

"So what now?" Maria asked as she and Sarah Jane headed to the Metro. "I'm afraid that's the only adventure I had in my back pocket."

"Fancy a curry?" Sarah Jane asked.

Maria grinned widely. "I know just the place."

End


End file.
